"Having a few relationships below [their] belt and feeling hardships, to grow into [their] skin and feel confident within [themselves] and to feel the value of who [they] are, not because of a man or because of something like that. And I think that's such a beautiful thing."

In a recent interview with online magazine, Women's Wear Daily, the 39-year-old actress expressed her views on the beauty industry, womanhood and becoming a mum.

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Theron, who is currently the face of the ongoing ad campaign for Christian Dior Parfums' J'adore fragrance, says women are in their prime at 40 but for some reason society looks at them like a "dead flower".

"It's like we wilt for some reason," she says.

But it's a different story for men.

"Men are like fine wines – the older they get, the better they get," says Theron.

"It's such a misconception and it's such a lost opportunity because that's when I think women are really in the true moment of their sensuality."

But her awareness of the world doesn't stop with the beauty industry. Theron says she chooses to live in the "real world" rather than the "dream world".

"I really love having an awareness. I don't want to live in a world with blinders on. I don't want to live in a world where I just kind of play on my naïveté – well if I don't know it, then it doesn't exist," she says.

Similarly, The Snow White and the Huntsmen actress says having a connection to humanity is really important for her.

Theron continues, saying, "I know that I'm only as good as I am because of the things that I allow into myself and into my soul because that's the stuff that I project back out."

"So I can't live in a bubble and expect to come and work with Dior or go work on a movie and not have some kind of an evolution within myself and my own thought process and a passion about things or what's happening in the world," she says.

In 2012, the Oscar winner adopted her son Jackson and has been dating actor, Sean Penn since the beginning of the year.

While having a child is life-changing, Theron says becoming a mum hasn't affected her career.

"As far as creativity, it really didn't change me other than I want my son, of course you want your son, your children, to be proud of you. There's definitely an element of that. But I also know that that pride comes from a place of real acknowledgment that somebody's actually living their life for themselves, and I want to be that example for my son," she says.

"I want him to grow up with a mum that he could see and look at her life with all the mistakes and with all the failures and all the flaws and say, "My mum lived an authentic life. That was the life she wanted to live."

Known to change her physical appearance for movies, Theron's next role, Mad Max: Fury Road, will see her sporting a shaved head and bulked physique.

While Theron points out the benefits of getting older, Vanity Fair finds it interesting that she mentions 20-year-olds specifically.

"She was right around that age herself when she burst onto the film scene with sex-kitten roles in films like 2 Days in the Valley and That Thing You Do!"

But at 39 Theron is still one of the world's most photographed women and therefore sends the message that beauty doesn't stop at 39 or 40, beauty is ageless.